Lead image for How Ukraine war, drought cut Kenyan families’ food, cooking gas use.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 had an almost immediate impact on global energy markets and the movement of food around the world.
During the first year of the conflict, international crude oil and natural gas prices rose sharply. Disruptions to exports of wheat, maize, sunflower oil and fertilisers from Russia and Ukraine contributed to record global food prices.
Kenya was badly affected as the country imports about 92pc of the wheat it consumes.
I am a global health researcher and was interested in tracking how the war in Ukraine affected Kenyans’ ability to afford food and cooking fuel.
In 2022, I worked with a team in Mukuru, an informal settlement in Nairobi, to understand how the war had affected the way families used liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for clean cooking.
Most Kenyan households still rely on biomass fuels like wood for cooking, but LPG is used by about one-third of Kenyans. LPG is much more commonly used in Kenyan cities (about 60pc use) compared with rural areas (about 10pc use). Since Kenya does not produce any LPG domestically, changes in global energy prices and supply disruptions can greatly increase cooking costs.
During 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, food inflation in Kenya nearly doubled from 8.9pc to 15.4pc. This sharp price rise was driven by rising global food and transport costs and also a multi-year drought, which reduced harvests across the region.
We do the deep dives so you don’t have to. Africa's most complex news, simplified daily.